Recruiting from 2013-
Anu Solomon, Arizona: Threw for 6,922 yards and 49 touchdowns over three seasons, but will finish his career at Baylor.
2014
Brandon Dawkins, Arizona: Took over as the starting quarterback for the majority of the 2016 season and will be expected to retain that role in 2017.
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Must-win and trap games of 2017: Arizona Wildcats
When is it too early to start dissecting the 2017 football schedule? Whenever it was, it is behind us..
We’re taking a look at some of the more important games each Pac-12 team has waiting for them in the fall: the must-wins and the trap games. First up: Arizona.
Must-win game: at Cal, Oct. 21
It was just a couple of years ago when Arizona finished atop the Pac-12 South, when the division had five nationally-ranked teams. Since then, it has been a rapid descent and, at this stage, it’s hard to be too optimistic about a Colorado-like improvement next year. In the Wildcats’ first six games of the season, they’re looking at just two games where Las Vegas would put a minus number next to their name. If betting lines were made today, they would be underdogs against Houston, Utah, Colorado and UCLA. To reach bowl eligibility, they’ll probably have to win at least one of those games, but none qualify for must-win status. When the second half of the season begins against Cal, though, that’s a game the Wildcats likely won’t be able to afford to drop. It’s too early, of course, to pretend like we can accurately forecast how the landscape will look in October with much accuracy, but Cal, like Arizona, figures to be a bottom-tier Pac-12 team. Justin Wilcox assembled an impressive staff since his late arrival as the Bears’ new head coach, but it won’t be a quick fix in Berkeley. If Arizona can’t beat Cal, it won’t be expected to fare much better down the stretch.
Trap game:at UTEP, Sept. 16
Coaches claim they don’t think this way, but I think they, just like fans and media members, look at the schedule and make mental notes: win, win, lose, that could go either way, lose, win, etc. Whatever the pattern may be. Looking down Arizona’s schedule it goes: Northern Arizona (win), Houston (probably a loss), UTEP (win), Utah (probably a loss) and so on. The Wildcats have to be confident they will beat UTEP. The Miners finished in last place in the Conference USA’s South Division last year and haven’t won a bowl game since Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez was 4 years old (1967). If Arizona can’t beat UTEP, Rodriguez’s future would be a hot topic in Tucson. To be clear, Arizona should win, but it’s on the road, it’s right before conference play starts and it’s against a caliber of opponent that might be harder to get up for. It’s definitely a trap game.
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Mailbag: Coaching woes in Pac-12 South?
Peter from Auburn, Washington, writes: The program arcs of the Pac-12 South's 2011-12 coaching hires (Jim Mora/UCLA, Rich Rodriguez/Arizona, Todd Graham/Arizona State) seem remarkably similar. Each took over a losing team from 2011, turned the program around, peaking in a 2014 season in which all three won 10 games, then took a step back in 2015 before a 2016 season in which all three declined further, each missing a bowl game for the first time in his tenure. What do you think the likelihood is that their arcs remain the same, and if so, which direction might that be? How plausible is it that all three will be fired/resign by the end of 2017?
Ted Miller: It's notable that the program arcs are even more aligned than in your observations about the three coaches in question. Each of these three teams would be hiring its fifth head coach since 2000 if it made a change after the 2017 season.
Hmm. Extrapolate as you will on that factoid.
I'd be surprised if all three are fired/resign/leave at the end of the season. But I wouldn't be surprised if one of the three isn't back in 2018. In fact, my perhaps jaded expectation is that some turnover is likely among that troika, in large part because inhabiting the same division means that -- 2014 notwithstanding -- one's success probably comes at the others' expense.
Josh Rosen living up to his potential behind center. Arizona seems to have issues on both sides of the ball, though the Wildcats' improving offensive line is a foundation for hope.
The caveat we always offer up, however, to fan bases eager to see their coach fired is this: Be careful what you wish for. All three of these programs have longstanding patterns of moderate-to-impressive upticks, followed by increased expectations and then downturns that quickly douse any previous goodwill and immediately surround the program in negativity.
As Bonagura said in the obscure Shakespeare play "Dick Tomey, Bruce Snyder and Bob Toledo Send Their Regards," “O! beware, my message board denizens, of negativity; it is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.”
Anu Solomon, Arizona: Threw for 6,922 yards and 49 touchdowns over three seasons, but will finish his career at Baylor.
2014
Brandon Dawkins, Arizona: Took over as the starting quarterback for the majority of the 2016 season and will be expected to retain that role in 2017.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Must-win and trap games of 2017: Arizona Wildcats
When is it too early to start dissecting the 2017 football schedule? Whenever it was, it is behind us..
We’re taking a look at some of the more important games each Pac-12 team has waiting for them in the fall: the must-wins and the trap games. First up: Arizona.
Must-win game: at Cal, Oct. 21
It was just a couple of years ago when Arizona finished atop the Pac-12 South, when the division had five nationally-ranked teams. Since then, it has been a rapid descent and, at this stage, it’s hard to be too optimistic about a Colorado-like improvement next year. In the Wildcats’ first six games of the season, they’re looking at just two games where Las Vegas would put a minus number next to their name. If betting lines were made today, they would be underdogs against Houston, Utah, Colorado and UCLA. To reach bowl eligibility, they’ll probably have to win at least one of those games, but none qualify for must-win status. When the second half of the season begins against Cal, though, that’s a game the Wildcats likely won’t be able to afford to drop. It’s too early, of course, to pretend like we can accurately forecast how the landscape will look in October with much accuracy, but Cal, like Arizona, figures to be a bottom-tier Pac-12 team. Justin Wilcox assembled an impressive staff since his late arrival as the Bears’ new head coach, but it won’t be a quick fix in Berkeley. If Arizona can’t beat Cal, it won’t be expected to fare much better down the stretch.
Trap game:at UTEP, Sept. 16
Coaches claim they don’t think this way, but I think they, just like fans and media members, look at the schedule and make mental notes: win, win, lose, that could go either way, lose, win, etc. Whatever the pattern may be. Looking down Arizona’s schedule it goes: Northern Arizona (win), Houston (probably a loss), UTEP (win), Utah (probably a loss) and so on. The Wildcats have to be confident they will beat UTEP. The Miners finished in last place in the Conference USA’s South Division last year and haven’t won a bowl game since Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez was 4 years old (1967). If Arizona can’t beat UTEP, Rodriguez’s future would be a hot topic in Tucson. To be clear, Arizona should win, but it’s on the road, it’s right before conference play starts and it’s against a caliber of opponent that might be harder to get up for. It’s definitely a trap game.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mailbag: Coaching woes in Pac-12 South?
Peter from Auburn, Washington, writes: The program arcs of the Pac-12 South's 2011-12 coaching hires (Jim Mora/UCLA, Rich Rodriguez/Arizona, Todd Graham/Arizona State) seem remarkably similar. Each took over a losing team from 2011, turned the program around, peaking in a 2014 season in which all three won 10 games, then took a step back in 2015 before a 2016 season in which all three declined further, each missing a bowl game for the first time in his tenure. What do you think the likelihood is that their arcs remain the same, and if so, which direction might that be? How plausible is it that all three will be fired/resign by the end of 2017?
Ted Miller: It's notable that the program arcs are even more aligned than in your observations about the three coaches in question. Each of these three teams would be hiring its fifth head coach since 2000 if it made a change after the 2017 season.
Hmm. Extrapolate as you will on that factoid.
I'd be surprised if all three are fired/resign/leave at the end of the season. But I wouldn't be surprised if one of the three isn't back in 2018. In fact, my perhaps jaded expectation is that some turnover is likely among that troika, in large part because inhabiting the same division means that -- 2014 notwithstanding -- one's success probably comes at the others' expense.
Josh Rosen living up to his potential behind center. Arizona seems to have issues on both sides of the ball, though the Wildcats' improving offensive line is a foundation for hope.
The caveat we always offer up, however, to fan bases eager to see their coach fired is this: Be careful what you wish for. All three of these programs have longstanding patterns of moderate-to-impressive upticks, followed by increased expectations and then downturns that quickly douse any previous goodwill and immediately surround the program in negativity.
As Bonagura said in the obscure Shakespeare play "Dick Tomey, Bruce Snyder and Bob Toledo Send Their Regards," “O! beware, my message board denizens, of negativity; it is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.”
